The group calling themselves "Jehovah's Witnesses" uses Matthew 5:3, 5 to try to show (1) that some people will never go to heaven, and (2) that there are two distinct groups of saved people going to two distinct places. While this may appear to have some merit to some on a superficial level, it really teaches the opposite!

The beatitudes are all talking about the same group of people; the terms for saved individuals are synonymous.

They are all referring to the same reward(s); these too are synonymous.

These are clearly all talking about ONE set of rewards belonging to ONE group of people. There is no division taught or implied about two groups of saved individuals. Neither are two different sets of rewards seen or implied. From a literary standpoint they are all parallel phrases.

If you say that this passage teaches that all who are meek don’t belong to the kingdom of heaven, then you are saying that all the people going to heaven are not meek! They are proud!

This passage also teaches that those who are “peacemakers” are “sons of God.” It also teaches that those who are “persecured for righteousness sake” will receive the kingdom of heaven. Millions of Christians around the world have been peacemakers and have been persecuted unjustly for their faith. There is no way that only 144,000 have experienced "persecution for righteousness sake"!

Incidentally, this passage also teaches that the “pure in heart” will “see God.” This is referring to God in the form of the Son (our Lord Jesus Christ). If this quality referred to only one group of people, then we would have to logically postulate that the other group of saved people are NOT "pure in heart."

What can we say? Would we dare theorize that these are talking about nine different groups of people going to nine different places? Would we say that “mourning people” go to a place of comfort when they die, but not a place where they receive mercy because only the “merciful believers” go there?

Note also that at the conclusion of this section Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world” and “Let your light so shine before men.” Jesus does not distinguish between any supposed groups; He lumps all believers together.

By artificially dividing up these beatitudes we are destroying the intent of God in giving them. The point is that all of the qualities mentioned are to be the qualities of those who are righteous. Righteousness is an all-encompassing thing. God's standard is that believers be holy in every dimension of life. God never divided up righteousness into two different halves, and then offered different destinies to those who fulfilled one part of his righteous demands! Breaking up the beatitudes is bad exegesis and even bad literary analysis. Rather than teaching JW doctrine, this passage actually argues against it!

If the hundreds and hundreds of verses and commands of Scripture dealing with the supposed 144,000 are stripped from people because they do not pertain to them, then the religious organization sponsoring this kind of pernicious doctrine is guilty of subtracting from the Word of God. By wrongly dividing the Word, they are in effect, rendering a huge chunk of New Testament teaching as null and void. Entire books of the New Testament, in effect are cancelled. The books of First and Second Corinthians, for instances are addressed to "saints" (perceived by JWs as being part of the 144,000), so they aren't even directed to anyone else!

There is further irony. Later in this sermon Jesus actually had ocassion to touch on this subject that JWs love to make a case for (i.e., three different classes of people: lost, saved, and 144,000, and three different destinies: annhilation, earthly paradise, and heavenly bliss). Jesus had the perfect opportunity to clarify this matter. His teaching was clearly that there are TWO groups of people (lost and saved), TWO ways (disobeying the word and obeying the word), and TWO destinies (gehenna and eternal bliss).

See Matthew 7:13-14: there are two gates, two groups, two destinies.

If still unconvinced, see also Matthew 7:16-20: there are two kinds of trees, two kinds of fruit.

Matthew 7:21: people going to the "kingdom of heaven" are in contrast to the lost; there is no in-between group.

Matthew 7:24-27, the Parable of Building on the Rock: there are two groups of people--those who are wise and obedient to the Word of God, and those who are foolish, who disregard the Word.

SUMMARY: Are we characterized by an all-encompassing righteousness leading to an all-encompassing hope? Or have we compartmentalized righteousness in contradiction to Jesus' teaching? Are we deluding ourselves by meeting others' demands rather than God's?